Exhibition

About this object

The coffin lid and trough is coated with blackened resin. The name and titles of the deceased are inscribed in three lines in a vertical panel in the centre of the lid beneath a figure of the goddess Nut and a pectoral collar with hawk-head terminals, all in yellow paint. The white of the eyes is inlaid with plaster and the pupils are of wood.

The mummy and coffin of Nesshutefnut (also known as Ruru) prophet of Khonsu, prophet of Horus, son of Iyhor and Teni, were found at Hissayeh in Upper Egypt during excavations undertaken there by Professor John Garstang and Harold Jones in February/March 1905. In the same tomb were a painted wooden stele, a canopic chest and a Ptah-Soker-Osiris figure. An unpublished photograph shows the relative position of the contents of the rock-cut tomb when it was opened. The coffin was lying against the side wall with the Ptah-Soker-Osiris figure close to the right of the head. Between the Ptah-Soker-Osiris figure and the canopic chest was the stela.

Author: Andrea Davies and Dirk van der Plas (ed.)Publisher: Utrecht UniversityDate: 2001Description: CD ROM with 1500 objects from World Museum's Egyptian collection, including some destroyed in World War Two. This is now available online: http://www.globalegyptianmuseum.org/default.aspx

Events

Start date: 1905-02End date: 1905-02Description: Excavations directed by John Garstang of the University of Liverpool Institute of Archaeology on behalf of the Egyptian Excavations Committee and the Institute of Archaeology in 1905.
Hissayeh is a cemetery about 15 km south of Edfu in Upper Egypt. In a fieldwork report to members of the excavation committee, dated 5th March 1905, Prof. John Garstang records that towards the end of February his assistant, Mr Harold Jones, took a tent, 80 men and equipment to Hissayeh. Garstang had already examined the site and had found it to be very much plundered. On page 4 of his report he notes, “It seemed, however, desirable to look over the necropolis carefully to make sure it was exhausted and to ascertain anything possible concerning its history. Few tombs of the Ptolemaic character proved to have escaped plunder and in one of them Mr Jones found attached to a mummy a hieroglyphic papyrus. (I consequently joined him in camp at Hissayeh where we are now). The papyrus is a nice roll in good condition. The text is well written and the illustrations in pen and ink apparently without colour. It seems to be The Book of the Dead but I have not dealt with it yet. Another was found two days ago, unfortunately flat, and difficult to preserve. Some small wooden objects (2 stelae) and one or two good wooden sarcophagi, modelled to human shape and decorated with scenes of ritual and religion have been found. Also some excellent pottery."